In
statistical mechanics
In physics, statistical mechanics is a mathematical framework that applies statistical methods and probability theory to large assemblies of microscopic entities. Sometimes called statistical physics or statistical thermodynamics, its applicati ...
, the Temperley–Lieb algebra is an algebra from which are built certain
transfer matrices, invented by
Neville Temperley and
Elliott Lieb. It is also related to
integrable models,
knot theory
In topology, knot theory is the study of knot (mathematics), mathematical knots. While inspired by knots which appear in daily life, such as those in shoelaces and rope, a mathematical knot differs in that the ends are joined so it cannot be und ...
and the
braid groups,
quantum groups and
subfactors of
von Neumann algebra
In mathematics, a von Neumann algebra or W*-algebra is a *-algebra of bounded operators on a Hilbert space that is closed in the weak operator topology and contains the identity operator. It is a special type of C*-algebra.
Von Neumann al ...
s.
Structure
Generators and relations
Let
be a
commutative ring
In mathematics, a commutative ring is a Ring (mathematics), ring in which the multiplication operation is commutative. The study of commutative rings is called commutative algebra. Complementarily, noncommutative algebra is the study of ring prope ...
and fix
. The Temperley–Lieb algebra
is the
-algebra generated by the elements
, subject to the Jones relations:
*
for all
*
for all
*
for all
*
for all
such that
Using these relations, any product of generators
can be brought to Jones' normal form:
:
where
and
are two strictly increasing sequences in
. Elements of this type form a basis of the Temperley-Lieb algebra.
The dimensions of Temperley-Lieb algebras are
Catalan numbers
The Catalan numbers are a sequence of natural numbers that occur in various Enumeration, counting problems, often involving recursion, recursively defined objects. They are named after Eugène Charles Catalan, Eugène Catalan, though they were p ...
:
:
The Temperley–Lieb algebra
is a subalgebra of the
Brauer algebra
In mathematics, a Brauer algebra is an associative algebra introduced by Richard Brauer in the context of the representation theory of the orthogonal group. It plays the same role that the symmetric group does for the representation theory of the g ...
,
and therefore also of the
partition algebra . The Temperley–Lieb algebra
is
semisimple
In mathematics, semi-simplicity is a widespread concept in disciplines such as linear algebra, abstract algebra, representation theory, category theory, and algebraic geometry. A semi-simple object is one that can be decomposed into a sum of ''sim ...
for
where
is a known,
finite set
In mathematics, particularly set theory, a finite set is a set that has a finite number of elements. Informally, a finite set is a set which one could in principle count and finish counting. For example,
is a finite set with five elements. Th ...
.
For a given
, all semisimple Temperley-Lieb algebras are isomorphic.
Diagram algebra
may be represented diagrammatically as the vector space over noncrossing pairings of
points on two opposite sides of a rectangle with ''n'' points on each of the two sides.
The identity element is the diagram in which each point is connected to the one directly across the rectangle from it. The generator
is the diagram in which the
-th and
-th point on the left side are connected to each other, similarly the two points opposite to these on the right side, and all other points are connected to the point directly across the rectangle.
The generators of
are:
From left to right, the unit 1 and the generators
,
,
,
.
Multiplication on basis elements can be performed by concatenation: placing two rectangles side by side, and replacing any closed loops by a factor
, for example
:

×

=


=

.
The Jones relations can be seen graphically:

=

=

=

The five basis elements of
are the following:
.
From left to right, the unit 1, the generators
,
, and
,
.
Representations
Structure
For
such that
is semisimple, a complete set
of simple modules is parametrized by integers
with
. The dimension of a simple module is written in terms of
binomial coefficients
In mathematics, the binomial coefficients are the positive integers that occur as coefficients in the binomial theorem. Commonly, a binomial coefficient is indexed by a pair of integers and is written \tbinom. It is the coefficient of the te ...
as
:
A basis of the simple module
is the set
of monic noncrossing pairings from
points on the left to
points on the right. (Monic means that each point on the right is connected to a point on the left.) There is a natural
bijection
In mathematics, a bijection, bijective function, or one-to-one correspondence is a function between two sets such that each element of the second set (the codomain) is the image of exactly one element of the first set (the domain). Equival ...
between
, and the set of diagrams that generate
: any such diagram can be cut into two elements of
for some
.
Then
acts on
by diagram concatenation from the left.
(Concatenation can produce non-monic pairings, which have to be modded out.) The module
may be called a standard module or link module.
If
with
a
root of unity
In mathematics, a root of unity is any complex number that yields 1 when exponentiation, raised to some positive integer power . Roots of unity are used in many branches of mathematics, and are especially important in number theory, the theory ...
,
may not be semisimple, and
may not be irreducible:
:
If
is reducible, then its quotient by its maximal proper submodule is irreducible.
Branching rules from the Brauer algebra
Simple modules of the Brauer algebra
can be decomposed into simple modules of the Temperley-Lieb algebra. The decomposition is called a
branching rule, and it is a direct sum with positive integer coefficients:
:
The coefficients
do not depend on
, and are given by
:
where
is the number of standard Young tableaux of shape
, given by the
hook length formula.
Affine Temperley-Lieb algebra
The affine Temperley-Lieb algebra
is an infinite-dimensional algebra such that
. It is obtained by adding generators
such that
*
for all
,
*
,
*
.
The indices are supposed to be periodic i.e.
, and the Temperley-Lieb relations are supposed to hold for all
. Then
is central. A finite-dimensional quotient of the algebra
, sometimes called the unoriented Jones-Temperley-Lieb algebra,
is obtained by
assuming
, and replacing non-contractible lines with the same factor
as contractible lines (for example, in the case
, this implies
).
The diagram algebra for
is deduced from the diagram algebra for
by turning rectangles into cylinders. The algebra
is infinite-dimensional because lines can wind around the cylinder. If
is even, there can even exist closed winding lines, which are non-contractible.
The Temperley-Lieb algebra is a quotient of the corresponding affine Temperley-Lieb algebra.
The cell module
of
is generated by the set of monic pairings from
points to
points, just like the module
of
. However, the pairings are now on a cylinder, and the right-multiplication with
is identified with
for some
. If
, there is no right-multiplication by
, and it is the addition of a non-contractible loop on the right which is identified with
. Cell modules are finite-dimensional, with
:
The cell module
is irreducible for all
, where the set
is countable. For
,
has an irreducible quotient. The irreducible cell modules and quotients thereof form a complete set of irreducible modules of
.
Cell modules of the unoriented Jones-Temperley-Lieb algebra must obey
if
, and
if
.
Applications
Temperley–Lieb Hamiltonian
Consider an interaction-round-a-face model e.g. a square
lattice model and let
be the number of sites on the lattice. Following Temperley and Lieb we define the Temperley–Lieb
Hamiltonian
Hamiltonian may refer to:
* Hamiltonian mechanics, a function that represents the total energy of a system
* Hamiltonian (quantum mechanics), an operator corresponding to the total energy of that system
** Dyall Hamiltonian, a modified Hamiltonian ...
(the TL Hamiltonian) as
In what follows we consider the special case
.
We will firstly consider the case
. The TL Hamiltonian is
, namely
= 2

-

-

.
We have two possible states,

and

.
In acting by
on these states, we find

= 2


-


-


=

-

,
and

= 2


-


-


= -

+

.
Writing
as a matrix in the basis of possible states we have,
The eigenvector of
with the ''lowest''
eigenvalue
In linear algebra, an eigenvector ( ) or characteristic vector is a vector that has its direction unchanged (or reversed) by a given linear transformation. More precisely, an eigenvector \mathbf v of a linear transformation T is scaled by a ...
is known as the
ground state
The ground state of a quantum-mechanical system is its stationary state of lowest energy; the energy of the ground state is known as the zero-point energy of the system. An excited state is any state with energy greater than the ground state ...
. In this case, the lowest eigenvalue
for
is
. The corresponding
eigenvector
In linear algebra, an eigenvector ( ) or characteristic vector is a vector that has its direction unchanged (or reversed) by a given linear transformation. More precisely, an eigenvector \mathbf v of a linear transformation T is scaled by ...
is
. As we vary the number of sites
we find the following table
where we have used the notation
-times e.g.,
.
An interesting observation is that the largest components of the ground state of
have a combinatorial enumeration as we vary the number of sites,
as was first observed by
Murray Batchelor, Jan de Gier and Bernard Nienhuis.
Using the resources of the
on-line encyclopedia of integer sequences
The On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences (OEIS) is an online database of integer sequences. It was created and maintained by Neil Sloane while researching at AT&T Labs. He transferred the intellectual property and hosting of the OEIS to th ...
, Batchelor ''et al.'' found, for an even numbers of sites
and for an odd numbers of sites
Surprisingly, these sequences corresponded to well known combinatorial objects. For
even, this corresponds to cyclically symmetric transpose complement plane partitions and for
odd, , these correspond to
alternating sign matrices symmetric about the vertical axis.
XXZ spin chain
References
Further reading
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Temperley-Lieb algebra
Von Neumann algebras
Knot theory
Braids
Diagram algebras